


succulent

by kindlingchild



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Other, i love my succulent boy, let ralph be happy, please, ralph character study, ralph has a happy ending here, so peaceful markus canada border kara w/ luther and alice and deviant connor, thank you, this follows the best endings for all three, though connor's doesnt matter much here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 06:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15188915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindlingchild/pseuds/kindlingchild
Summary: Ralph still remembered the first time he saw a succulent.It was a plain green plant that could easily blend in with the many other species of plants that Ralph had downloaded into his memory, but something about succulents left a particular imprint in his memory.He would care for other plants normally, as he was programmed to, but he found himself paying special attention to succulents, flashing a smile towards them every time he spotted one around Detroit.In the plant care books he had downloaded, he remembered there being a few statements on how singing and talking to plants would make them grow better.So, in the freezing, lonely winters of Detroit, when all the humans would hide away indoors to get away from the biting cold, Ralph would go to all the succulents in the area (he had them memorised) and sing a soft song for them, whisper soft encouragements to them, and take extra special care of them.There was something so extravagant about finding joy in the plain things most people passed by.





	succulent

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i recently have fallen into the deep dark depths of the dbh fandom and i will be in here for Awhile so take my ralph character study bc he's a precious boy
> 
> i might do one on daniel!! i also have 3 simarkus fics in the works so those'll go up when they go up lmao
> 
> might do some hank and connor familial bonding too!! we'll see how this goes
> 
> credits to our lord and saviour spider jesus on the press x to sadness dbh discord for beta reading this love u jl x
> 
> enjoy!! xx
> 
> (ps the violence is only really in the beginning, after that it tones down)

 

He blinked.

The air in the Cyberlife factory was crisp and sharp, human manufacturers working on androids meant to be sent out to the world. Most humans who worked there felt no sympathy for the machines they created everyday. Program, double check, repeat. It was an endless cycle.

Certain groups were assigned to different models. He felt himself following the other WR600s beside him, up a long white ramp, with a blinding light at the top. They all looked the same, and he figured if he could look into a mirror, he would look exactly the same too.

One by one, they all marched into their crates, three humans stationed at the entrance of the crates, checking each android before sending them into their crates in threes. He watched as they were sent into automated trucks to be sent off to wherever they were programmed to go, without a single hesitation or question.

He didn’t mind it really. Nothing felt off about the whole procedure. It was what they were programmed to do.

He approached his own box, marching forward in a straight row, WR600s lined up in front and behind him. Finally, he stood at the entrance of his own box, two other androids on his right. His company for the ride, he supposed.

He paused, allowing the human on his left to check his systems and instruct him to run all the necessary diagnostic tests.

“Alright, set to go,” the woman clicked on a few more keys on her tablet before giving him a light pat on the shoulder. He took a step forward, but the woman’s gentle yet firm grip held him back. He turned his head, raising an eyebrow to mimic human curiosity.

“Your name is going to be Ralph. Don’t forget that,” she flashed him a small smile, signalling him to go into the crate.

_Ralph. My name is Ralph._

He nodded once at her before walking into his crate. The other two WR600s joined him.

“What are your names? I’m Ralph,” he whispered as the door on their crates closed. Maybe they’d have names too. Ralph wasn’t sure if he was supposed to get a name, but he did, and he was going to treasure it. Maybe it was against his program. But what was a mere gardener to do?

He waited for the other two to respond, but even after he felt the crate being loaded onto the truck, the androids beside him still didn’t respond. He turned his head. Their LEDs were glowing a soft blue, the only light in the darkness of the crate.

“Hello?” He whispered even softer, but to no avail.

_Maybe they didn’t get names. That’s sad._

He turned back, smiling to himself before powering down for the long ride.

_My name is Ralph._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph still remembered the first time he saw a succulent.

It was a plain green plant that could easily blend in with the many other species of plants that Ralph had downloaded into his memory, but something about succulents left a particular imprint in his memory.

He would care for other plants normally, as he was programmed to, but he found himself paying special attention to succulents, flashing a smile towards them every time he spotted one around Detroit.

In the plant care books he had downloaded, he remembered there being a few statements on how singing and talking to plants would make them grow better.

So, in the freezing, lonely winters of Detroit, when all the humans would hide away indoors to get away from the biting cold, Ralph would go to all the succulents in the area (he had them memorised) and sing a soft song for them, whisper soft encouragements to them, and take extra special care of them.

There was something so extravagant about finding joy in the plain things most people passed by.

Maybe it was because he found them so intriguing. One small plain plant, with such an odd name. It was so entertaining to Ralph, he couldn’t help but laugh every time he said the word.

_My name is Ralph. I’m a WR600. My function is a gardener, and I’m programmed to maintain the plants around the city of Detroit._

His diagnostic would always echo in his head. System checks, status updates, whether maintenance was needed.

But somewhere in the many years that Ralph wandered the streets of Detroit, only accompanied by his watering can, his broom and his spade; another line would echo around his head. He wasn’t programmed to repeat it, wasn’t programmed to have it in his memory, but it was there anyway, and Ralph was happy it was.

_Succulents are my favourite plants._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He dragged his only three belonging across the concrete pavement, walking towards the next area he was to clean and maintain. Cyberlife had uploaded a map into his memory, and he was merely obediently following the instructions he had received.

News flashed across all the screens in Capitol Park. Capitol Park was his usual station, and the words “unemployment rate”, “increase” and “growing instability” had been replayed so many times on so many screens around the park, Ralph felt that it was unnatural to not hear at least one of those phrases every five minutes.

Suddenly, it wasn’t those three words that were echoing in his memory. Loud and unpleasant shouts sounded from in front of him, and Ralph looked up from the ground, only to be faced with a massive crowd of humans. Some held up signs displaying anti-android slogans, while others yelled angrily at no one as they stood on the pavement and blocked Ralph’s way.

A man stood on a bench holding up a megaphone, seemingly leading the shouts of vulgar phrases and anti-android slogans. Ralph quickly lowered his head, crossing his arms slightly to hide the WR600 that had been embroidered onto his uniform, and angled his body slightly so that the bright blue band on his arm and the blue triangle on his uniform would not be seen.

He didn’t consider himself a deviant. He didn’t feel much emotion, and the joy he got from succulents were merely a design in his program to keep him friendly in the event a human should try to communicate with him. He had witnessed so many cases of androids going deviant and running away, and while it left him feeling scared, he also wondered what it felt like to be liberated.

To be free from all of the chains the humans had wrapped around their wrists. To be free from the condescending looks and stares. To be free from the intense urge to fulfil a command given to him by a human. To be free, at all really.

Ralph wasn’t quite sure what freedom felt like, though he considered that he got a fair amount of it since he wasn’t owned by any particular family.

He walked past silently, trying his best to stay unnoticed, but protestors always noticed them. He had seen his fair share of androids being beat up by angry protestors.

It always looked like it hurt. Ralph knew androids couldn’t feel pain, and yet- it looked so painful when the humans pushed other androids down and beat them until their thirium had leaked all over the floor, left for him and other cleaning and maintenance androids to clean up.

“Hey look! There’s one of em’ tin cans now!”

Ralph tensed at the mention of “tin”, walking faster to avoid their attacks. He wouldn’t feel the pain of it, and he knew another WR600 would take his place, but something in him told him to walk faster, to run away as fast as possible, to-

The first brick hit his head, and a stream of blue blood immediately flowed out of his skull. Ralph thought it wasn’t supposed to hurt, that he was just a machine, but when the brick pierced the metal beneath his synthetic skin, he wanted to scream.

Protesters began to surround him, a mix of low growls and high-pitched, almost _hysterical_ laughs echoing all around him as he found himself being pummeled to the ground. Feet came in every direction, sending merciless kicks straight into his metal body.

If he was lucky, he could make it out functional without any damaged biocomponents. But he knew no policemen would come around and save him. He didn’t belong to any specific person. He was the government’s property- and the government was rich. They had enough WR600s in the Cyberlife warehouse to share with the whole world.

_I don’t matter. I’m just a machine._

The side of his face felt hot. He felt his metal shell melting off. His wires were growingly increasingly more exposed. Blue blood spilled all over the concrete pavement. Red warning signs began popping up in his vision. Some of them had picked up his equipment. They broke it by smashing it over his body. His dustpan wouldn’t break, but the sharp metal corners dug into his own metallic body and stained his uniform with copious amounts of blue blood.

_I’m- I’m just a machine._

The fire wasn’t supposed to hurt. But Lord, _it burned._

_I don’t actually die. Death isn’t a thing for androids. I’ll be fine._

He spotted a man taking out a small knife from his pocket. His red alerts had begun to fade, his systems slowly failing him. A shutdown timer appeared before him. Seven minutes.

_Please. Stop. Please. I- I don’t-_

The man raised the knife. He was preparing to plunge it into Ralph’s thirium core regulator.

_I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna-_

He began moving before he could process it.

It was as if the barrier holding him back from attacking the humans had completely disappeared. His diagnostic didn’t echo in his head any longer. He didn’t feel the intense urge to pick up his equipment and continue on towards his next destination to finish the job that he had been assigned.

_I don’t wanna die. I’m Ralph. Succulents are my favourite plants. Death is scary. I don’t want to die._

He reached for the knife, catching the man’s wrist and twisting his arm. He managed to force the knife out of the man’s hand, grabbing it and holding it firmly in his own. Through sheer determination, he kicked away the protestors hovering over him, and he shut his eyes as he swung his arm around blindly, cutting into anyone who went close to him.

He opened one eye, and noticed the protestors backing away from his knife, and he used this opportunity to stand. None of his biocomponents had been damaged, but he was losing thirium at an alarming rate.

Ralph shot up, his system going into overdrive as he slashed down everyone around him, screaming and shouting as he watched red splash across his clothes and across the floor. His system couldn’t keep up with his movements, and he just stabbed his way out of the crowd, leaving the knife in one of the protestors and picking up with his dustpan to knock the rest out.

He whipped around, waiting for the next attack, the next move he had to make, but nothing came.

Slowly, he came out of overdrive. He dropped the dustpan in his hand. He looked around.

Several dozen bodies lay motionless around him, red blood splattered across everyone, spilling onto the pavement and even onto the road. His blue blood had mixed with some of the red, creating a subtle purple substance that had begun to pool around his feet. The more blood leaked from him, the more blood leaked from the humans, and the mixture of their blood left Ralph feeling horrified.

Police sirens wailed in the background.

His eyes widened as he frantically looked around, searching for some place to hide.

But he knew that hiding nearby would be useless. The police always searched high and low for murderous deviants, especially if they were still in the area.

Panicking, Ralph did the only thing he was sure he knew how to do.

He ran.

He ran, and he ran, and he ran, until the echoing noise of the police sirens left his memory.

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph found himself lying on the floor, blue blood still dripping from his open wounds.

It was late, around three in the morning, and the rainwater falling from the sky made his wires spark dangerously bright. He couldn’t short circuit. Not now.

His systems had started failing him from overuse after an hour of running, and he had tumbled onto the ground.

He lay still on the ground for just a moment. Ralph had crawled along the pavement for the past ten minutes, and it left skid marks on his arms, but he couldn’t care less. He couldn’t die.

Shutting his eyes, he took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly, trying to repeat some comforting information in his head.

_My name is Ralph. I’m a WR600 model. I’m afraid to die. Humans hate me, and I hate humans. Succulents are my favourite plants._

He looked up, reaching a hand outwards and pulling himself forward. Amidst the darkness, he spotted an abandoned house in the distance. He had found a shelter.

_My name is Ralph. I’m a WR600 model. I’m afraid to die. Humans hate me, and I hate humans. Succulents-_

Ralph paused. His vision glitched slightly. His audio compressor played static in his ear every once a while.

_What is a succulent?_

He gripped the floor harder, pulling himself forward harder. He pushed himself to reach the house faster. He couldn’t forget who he was. It was all he had left. Yet, he couldn’t remember what a succulent was.

The word brought him joy, but why? What were succulents? His attempts to search what they were failed every time.. His systems were failing. He was scared. He repeated the word succulent over and over again. He refused to forget it.

_I’m a WR600 model. I’m afraid to die. I hate humans, and humans hate me. Succulents. My name is R-_

Tears began streaming down his cheeks.

His name was Ralph. His name was Ralph. His name was Ralph.

He repeated it over and over.

_Ralph. Succulents. WR600. Humans are bad. Humans hurt Ralph. Ralph doesn’t like humans._

He couldn’t use “I”. He would forget his name in a second. Why was his name so important anyway? Who gave it to him?

He used to remember all of this so easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph entered the house.

His thirium was at a dangerously low level. His Cyberlife uniform was torn to shreds. His metal was dented and bruised.

When he had reached the door, he had clawed his way up to the doorknob, using it to pull himself up. Opening the door gingerly, he peered into the dark house with tired eyes. It seemed empty, so he let himself in, gently closing the door behind him.

Before he could fall to the floor, giving in to his exhaustion, a soft creak of the floorboards sounded from upstairs.

Ralph paused, balling his hands into a fist, feeling the same uncontrollable rage begin to build up within him again. He was supposed to be done. To rest for the night. To finally stop pushing himself to run, and to slowly restore his systems, to find blue blood and refill the abundant amount of thirium he had lost already.

He glanced around, grabbing the large knife on the table nearby. Slowly, he made his way up the stairs.

He turned the corner. A human appeared.

He doesn’t remember much after that. He doesn’t remember much at all.

All he remembered was red, blue, purple, and the sounds of a body tumbling into the bathtub.

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph found a fresh set of clothes in the closet. He changed into those.

He kept his knife in his pocket at all times.

He used some spare metal around the house and the gas stove to weld his wounds shut. He found spare blue blood in the backyard.

He paced around the house for a few days. He didn’t know what to do. He was free, but was he really? Was it worth it?

And then suddenly three letters come to his mind and he finds himself scratching them onto the walls, his motions quick and frantic. He doesn’t know what it means. He doesn’t know why he’s so determined to engrave these letters into the wall as many times as he can. But without anything else to lean on, he found comfort in the letters he carved into the wall.

_Ralph. Succulent. WR600 model. Humans hate Ralph, and he doesn’t like humans._

_Ra9._

_Ra9 brings Ralph comfort._

 

 

 

 

 

He always looked out of the windows when he wasn’t carving “ra9” into the walls.

He would see families walk by. A mother, a father, and a little child.

It was coming to a point where Ralph couldn’t remember what he did before the house. He remembered how he got the wounds- he would never forget.

But how did he end up in that position? What had he been doing that day? What was his function before the wounds?

Surprisingly, Ralph wasn’t scared that he was forgetting. But for some strange reason, the fact that he wasn’t scared just made him more afraid of himself.

All he knew was that as he watched the families walk by, he had never experienced anything like that.

He wanted to, one day.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes other people would squat in the house, but Ralph would just hide until they left. He knew that if he provoked them, he’d not only end up getting more damaged, but he had a chance of killing the humans again.

Sure, he didn’t like them, but he didn’t want to kill anymore. He didn’t want anymore purple staining the walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then suddenly, there’s a knock at the door.

Ralph peered through the blinds, and he spotted another android- an AX400- looking for a way to get in. Behind her, a little girl followed closely.

He quickly exited through one of the shattered windows, and he crept around the perimeter of the house, sneaking up on the little girl. The minute the AX400 turned the corner, he lunged at her, pinning her against the wall and cutting off all her options for escape.

He pulled out his knife and pointed it at her. It was the only way he knew how to protect himself.

“Alice?” The AX400 called, and soon she came back around the corner, staring at Ralph with wide eyes.

He hadn’t hidden, because he knew if the AX400 was looking around, that he would have been found eventually. He was scared.

“We just need a place to stay the night. We won’t hurt you,” the AX400 whispered, and Ralph lowered his hands, watching as the little girl scurried to her side.

Ralph, usually extremely guarded and terrified at the thought of someone staying in the house and knowing he was there, didn’t exactly know why, but something in him made him lower his knife.

Maybe it was the blue of Kara’s eyes. Maybe it was her warm presence. Maybe it was because she was with a little girl. Maybe it was because her words sounded sincere and genuine.

Maybe because she was a deviant too. She knew how it felt to be outcast.

He jumped with joy, a large grin spreading across his face. It felt so foreign to him. After so many months of trembling in fear, a smile had seemed so far away from him.

He welcomed them in, leaving them to settle down before walking back into the kitchen, taking out his knife and continuing his excessive carving from where he left off.

_ra9. ra9. ra9_

“Why are you writing that?”

Ralph turned his head to the side.

Kara gazed at him with concerned eyes, glancing between the scars on his face and the writing on the wall.

He didn’t know why, and he didn’t know how, but in that moment- Ralph felt safe.

He stopped twitching, just for a single moment. He stopped writing, arm pausing perfectly still.

With Kara’s gentle gaze on him, he felt safe and warm. Her presence made him feel an overwhelming sense of “home”, which both comforted him yet scared him at the same time.

“Home” was such an unfamiliar word to him. It was a stranger. Ralph didn’t know anything about strangers. They scared him.

But this feeling couldn’t be described as anything else. It was as if Ralph had known “home” all his life.

 _Strangers were just friends people haven’t made yet,_ he had heard that somewhere.

Maybe “home” had lived inside him all along.

And suddenly, for just a second- he felt bold enough to say something he hadn’t said in a long time.

“I don’t know.”

He turned back to the wall. He continued his writing.

“I”, he realised, was another word that tasted funny in his mouth. Maybe that’s what happened after estranging yourself from a word for so long. But it also tasted familiar.

He smiled as he dug his knife deep into the wooden walls of the house.

He still remembered his name.

_Ralph. Ralph. Ralph._

 

 

 

 

 

“Ralph found something for the little girl to eat!” He jumped excitedly, holding the large rodent by the tail.

After Kara and Alice sat down at the table, he spun around, crouching down and roasting the rodent he had captured. This was what a family was right? Going through challenges for the benefit of the other family members.

“This is going to be succulent!” He grinned as he roasted the rodent. He couldn’t remember what a succulent was, what it meant, why he remembered the word so clearly- but in his damaged memory, he hung onto every bit of information he could remember from his past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Family” was a word that Ralph figured he would need more time to understand before he could truly be friends with it.

Kara, with her gentle voice and her calming presence, spoke to him of family. Of a father, a mother, and the little girl.

“A father would never threaten his little girl with a knife to make her eat,” Kara spoke, her gaze lingering on the knife in his hand.

_What am I doing?_

Instead of growing mad, like he usually did, and slaughtering everything in his path while blinded by his rage, Ralph found himself lowering the knife.

“Ralph went to a lot of trouble. That’s why,” he turned his gaze to Alice, “He just wanted the little girl to eat.”

He turned back to Kara. He didn’t feel an ounce of anger in him.

“But Ralph is not bad, no. Not bad.” He turned his gaze to the floor beneath the table. His hands rested on the tabletop, trembling slightly.

Something warm covered his left hand, and he looked up to see Kara’s hand over his own. A soft look in her eyes. A wave of warmth washing over him through their hands where they were connected.

“Then let us go.”

And so he did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s months later. Ralph had lost count long ago.

He had heard tales of androids being set free, of how it was safe for him to leave now, but his injuries still set him apart from the rest. Even if he wasn’t to be captured or hunted down, he would still be different from all the other androids.

He hated being different.

There was a knock on the door. Ralph opened it normally this time. He had no reason to threaten anyone with a knife anymore, but he still kept it in his back pocket- just in case.

When he saw short hair and blue eyes, tears began streaming down his one working eye, and Kara embraced him almost immediately. Another pair of arms wrapped around his legs, and he recognised them as the little girl’s arms.

_Ralph is safe. Kara is safe. The little girl is safe._

_This is home. Ralph is friends with home, oh yes. He knows this word well._

_Ralph wants to be best friends with this word. He will be._

“Ralph!” Kara pulled back, her hands still firmly grasping his shoulders, “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

She took his hand and slowly led him out of the house. The sunlight was bright. He hadn’t been out in it for so long. It felt nice and warm against his body.

They walked to a nearby diner. They all sat down, Alice beside him, and Kara opposite them with another large android.

He learned later that the android was named Luther. He was kind, and just as warm as Kara. She seemed to attract those kinds of people. Ralph envied her, in a way.

“Come stay with us in Canada,” she smiled at him, her eyes bright and full of hope, “We have more than enough room. You don’t deserve to stay in that broken house.”

Ralph blinked. Him? Move in with Kara? Being in a family?

This was his chance. This was his chance to be friends with “family”.

“Are you sure, Kara? Ralph- Ralph isn’t sure if you’d want him around all the time, oh no. Ralph can get pretty unstable, he doesn’t want to hurt or scare you or the little girl. Or Luther. No,” He mumbled, rambling slightly. While he wanted to leap at the chance, he knew he was a damaged android. That he was unstable.

Purple was still a colour he hated.

“Of course Ralph,” Kara placed her hands on his, and he felt the same warmth as the first time he met Kara, “Of course.”

Ralph felt himself sit up, a large grin spreading across his face.

The same rush of boldness coursed through his wires once again. Kara’s warm presence seemed to do that to him. It was exciting.

“Yeah! Yeah! Okay, I want to. I really, really want to, Kara,” he nodded his head several times, “Thank you.”

_Ralph. Ralph. Ralph._

He was never going to forget his name. Not while being best friends with “home”.

Maybe he would remember some of his past by growing closer with “family”. It seemed that way to him, as he looked at the three figures around him, all smiling softly at his excited form

_“Family.” Ralph can’t wait to get to know you better._

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

They walked out of the diner. Kara and Alice led the way, while he and Luther trailed behind them.

He admired all the pretty flowers growing along the streets. But one plant in particular called out to him.

He halted in his tracks, bending over and observing the plant. It was a light green, with its only unique feature being the extremely pointed tips of each leaf.

“Do you like that plant, Ralph? I believe that is a succulent,” Luther stood beside him, his large shadow hovering over Ralph and the plants before him.

_A succulent. A succulent is a plant._

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he tore his gaze away from the plant, looking at Luther and nodding with a bright smile.

“Ralph really does like them, oh yes. He thinks they are very special, even if they’re not bright or colourful.” He rambled, Luther smiling back softly as they continued walking, eventually catching up to Kara and Alice.

_Succulents look so plain, but their name is so funny. Is that like making friends? The outside doesn’t define the inside?_

As he looked at the three figures around him, he nodded to himself, a newfound sense of determination welling up inside of him.

_Things are going to be succulent, just you wait and see Ralph._

_I promise you._

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: umbraxstaff
> 
> hmu if u wanna cry over dbh 
> 
> -arden


End file.
